Amsterdam’s leading creative hub De Marktkantine announced its century-long year commitment to host the University of the Underground in its basement. De Marktkantine is a theatre / restaurant / club on the Jan van Galenstraat in Amsterdam. De Marktkantine (The Market Canteen) is housed in the old Marcanti building at Jan van Galenstraat 6, a striking building filled with history. Built in 1936 as a canteen for merchants from the neighbouring market (now the Food Center Amsterdam), it was expanded in 1956 to include a large theatre where artists like Jacques Brel performed. During the 1990s it became a popular nightclub, and now, after being vacant for five years, De Marktkantine established a wide variety of events in it including: club nights, concerts, theatre performances, art exhibitions, master classes, fashion shows and more. Now, De Marktkantine is opening up its doors to students from the University of the Underground who will have the opportunity to work there 24 hours and benefit from a professional team of top event managers and a community of multimedia artists.

Eelko Anceaux – Founder of De Marktkantine: “This 100-year partnership with The University of the Underground strengthens our ambition to establish a creative melting pot and use the space we have for a greater good. We really feel the need to embrace this opportunity so a variety of disciplines can learn, work and amplify each other.”

Nelly Ben Hayoun- Founder of the University of the Underground: “De Marktkantine was built in a period of great disruption and revolution in Europe. In 1936, the depression lingered on with unemployment continuing to fall, however the public’s reaction was not to turn toward populism, but on the contrary to look at culture as a place to establish their revolt: in the UK, the BBC television service was born in 1936, while in France, the legislative elections gave the victory to an alliance of
left-wing movements supporting the workers’ movement. De Marktkantine and its multi facetted, multi disciplinary history is the perfect location to host our University of the Underground’s creative soldiers. Our 15 students will be able to learn and work with a fantastic team of professionals but also benefit from being in the underground of such an inspiring and unconventional space. We are also delighted to have established here in Amsterdam and in London at the Village Underground, a new type of long term partnership, which will see us work the seed for change in the coming 100 years and way beyond.”

Since its launch on February 2nd 2017, the University of the Underground has been calling out to all the Willy Wonkas, contemporary Joy Divisions, and modern-day Marie Curies—all the designers and artists who don’t have a name for their ambitions, the critical explorers, action researchers, mythologists and makers of new worlds. Its application process is still open until 1st April 2017.
With the aim of teaching students how to engineer situations and design experiences that ignite social dreaming, social actions, and power shifts within institutions, the University of the Underground is based in a subterranean network of unusual,
subversive urban spaces across the globe. The University of the Underground promotes unconventional collages of references,interdisciplinary tools, and the power of chaos and experimentations at the start of any creative process. The University of the Underground responds to the current trend of increased fees for postgraduate programmes by firstly proposing a business model in which students are provided with scholarships to cover their tuition fees. By hosting the University of the Underground, De Marktkantine in Amsterdam, Sandberg Instituut and the Village Underground in London are making steps towards a new, ambitious model for financing education. In the near future scholarships will be provided to students through the support of philanthropists (80%) and government grants (20%). The University of the Underground aims to offer a new model for arts education of what can be achieved through coordination, long-term partnerships, and passionate belief in the next generation, and hopes to create many more education programs worldwide with the same 80%-20% financial structure.

The University of the Underground is Sandberg Instituut’s MA programme based in the underground of cities. The Sandberg’s Instituut is the postgraduate programme of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. The University of the Underground is developing Sandberg Instituut’s Unconventional Research Practices Department that is aiming to provide PhDs in the near future. The programme will emphasise research, critical theories and context within students’ design practices. The University
of the Underground is established as a non-profit foundation in Amsterdam, composed of a multidisciplinary team as part of its advisory board chaired by Damian Bradfield from WeTransfer, directed by Nelly Ben Hayoun and managed by Nelly Ben
Hayoun Studios Ltd in Village Underground in London. The University of the Underground is based in London at Village Underground and in Amsterdam in the underground of De Marktkantine in Amsterdam.